This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application 60/754,717 filed Dec. 29, 2005, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to liquid supply assemblies for printers. More particularly, the present invention relates to a disposable cup insert as a temporary reservoir designed to hold a liquid (e.g., a liquid mixture of ink and thinner) used in a pad printing and decorating process.
Automated printing systems are in widespread use in a host of industries. And, the number of types of printing systems is almost as great as the number of industries in which these systems are used.
One type of printing system that operates in a fully automatic or near fully automatic mode is a pad printing system. These systems are used to apply high quality print (e.g., indicia) on flat as well as non-flat surfaces. For example, pad printing systems can be used to print logos and the like on cellular telephone covers, game balls (e.g., golf balls) and the like. It will be appreciated that such printing must be carried out, not only on a spherical surface, but on a surface that is formed with dimples as well.
Conventional pad printing systems use a deformable pad which receives ink, transferred as an image, from a flat cliché plate. The plate has an engraving or etching of the indicia formed therein. Ink is transferred from a liquid supply assembly to the cliché plate, and fills into the etched areas. The deformable pad is then pressed onto the plate and ink within the liquid is picked up by the pad. The image is then transferred to the curved surface which is to be printed.
To re-ink the pad, in a commonly used arrangement, an inverted cup containing a quantity of printing ink is used to apply the ink to the cliché plate. To apply a new coating of ink to the cliché plate, the cup and cliché plate are moved relative to each other following each ink transfer operation. A doctor blade is fitted to the cup to traverse along the cliché plate and “wipe” excess ink from the cliché plate. This assures that ink is left behind in the etching but does not build up on the plate, inside or outside of the etched areas.
Currently, the cup is typically cleaned after each use of the cup in applying a new coating of ink to the cliché plate. Such cleaning can be costly in terms of time, labor and materials. Accordingly, there is a need for a liquid supply assembly for a printing system that minimizes, if not eliminates, a cleaning requirement of the reusable cup after each of use of the cup in applying a new coating of ink to the cliché plate.